Russia's Prigozhin admits interfering in U.S. elections

[shadow puppet]

If true, color me not shocked at this news. Sounds like a tough day for all who insisted this never happened.

Prigozhin, who is often referred to as "Putin's chef" because his catering company operates Kremlin contracts, has been formally accused of sponsoring Russia-based "troll farms" that seek to influence U.S. politics.

Russia's Prigozhin admits interfering in U.S. elections

Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue doing so in future, the first such admission from a figure implicated by Washington in efforts to influence American politics.

www.reuters.com

 

[Pumbaa]

Probably true. But isn’t that exactly what they would say anyway to sow distrust and destabilize?

 

[shadow puppet]

Probably true. But isn’t that exactly what they would say anyway to sow distrust and destabilize?

Probably. I found it interesting though since so many still want to deny this ever happened.

 

[Macky-Mac]

perhaps he's attempting to position himself for some future political role in Russia

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Probably. I found it interesting though since so many still want to deny this ever happened.

I doubt that many will continue to deny that interference occurred.

However, what I have found interesting is the fact that this - admission, or confession - has happened now, which (to me) begs the inevitable question of, why now? Why not earlier, or why not later?

perhaps he's attempting to position himself for some future political role in Russia

These are my thoughts also.

 

[Eric]

perhaps he's attempting to position himself for some future political role in Russia

The American Republican party will love the guy too.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

He didn't want to be overshadowed by American oligarch, MyPillow guy.

 

[lizkat]

He didn't want to be overshadowed by American oligarch, MyPillow guy.

Great. A pissing contest between one of Trump's bagmen and one of Putin's "surgical" butchers.

perhaps he's attempting to position himself for some future political role in Russia.

Yeah, Prigozhin's higher profile is interesting... He would not make such revelations without implicit blessing from Putin. He has also made totally scathing public comments criticizing regular military performance in Ukraine. One could expect that in private between himself and Putin because of his leadership of Wagner Group and closeness to Putin. In public it took on a different tone. A public and implicitly approved framing of the regular army's shortcomings but without Putin's voiceprint on it: any losses, it's because of you guys dropping the ball.

Also possible: Putin might have less choice these days but to permit Prigozhin whatever he likes in way of public profiling. Wagner Group has probably been saving Vlad's bacon in Ukraine in ugly situations while providing Putin with plausible deniability later, regarding war crimes.

The regular military in Russia is traditionally under civilian control and Wagner Group legally nonexistent, i.e. a workaround of Russian laws that theoretically forbade private military contractors. If something is not even permitted, how could it then exist to commit any crimes? Alice, meet Wonderland!

By other reckonings the Wagner group had been just a kind of off-balance-sheet arm of the regular military. Now that Putin has once or twice publicly evinced interest in having some private militia for various purposes, sounds like the laws may have been tweaked and so Prigozhin is free to acknowledge not only his leadership of Wagner Group, but to burnish other aspects of his CV, like his now acknowledged political interference in USA elections.

Imagine if this guy Prigozhin were to succeed Putin. Ugh. From beyond evil to beyond redemption.

 

[AG_PhamD]

I wouldn’t be surprised. To what effect though is the question.

At the same time, at this point all the Russians have to do at this point is say they’re interfering to cause chaos.

My only question is why is Prighozin talking about this of all people.

 

[lizkat]

I wouldn’t be surprised. To what effect though is the question.

At the same time, at this point all the Russians have to do at this point is say they’re interfering to cause chaos.

Yeah it's kinda overkill. The GOP has already done what it can to generate uncertainty about outcomes and in some cases even to intimidate "uncooperative" Republican election supervisors or other officials who resisted joining the 2020 effort to overturn Biden's election. Plus those ghastly ballot drop box "monitors" toting guns or throwing tailgate parties nearby, just after the early voting periods opened in some states.

My only question is why is Prighozin talking about this of all people.

Domestic politics... giving Prigozhin a bump in stature at home? A little thank-you for assistance in Ukraine. Heh, either that or setting the guy up. But the USA already put sanctions on Prigozhin so there's not much could be done to him officially and personally for talking brag-trash like that, whether or not it's true, and whether or not he actually supervises election interference efforts.

Generally the US goes out of its way not to suggest that a country has violated international law when it talks about election interference by foreign entities. Our government usually says that others "violated international norms" when discussing election violations, and in part that's because of how many times the USA has messed with the vote in other countries.

LA Times ran a piece about that after Trump's election in 2016, mentioning some comparative counts of times the US and Russia interfered in other countries' elections, and citing a few memorable American instances. That's aside from any participation in or initiation of coups.

The U.S. is no stranger to interfering in the elections of other countries

Update: President Obama on Thursday slapped Russia with new penalties for meddling in the U.S. presidential election, kicking out dozens of suspected spies and imposing banking restrictions on five people and four organizations the administration says were involved.

www.latimes.com